"I'm just not sure you should have committed to living in Africa when you've only ever been on a day trip to France - " Nothing like a close friend to tell it like it is! As the 25-year-old Cassie Bryant embarked on the biggest adventure of her life to date - a two-year stint as a VSO teacher in the West African Republic of The Gambia - her friend's words ominously echoed her own doubts and misgivings. At that time - the early 1980s - it was described as one of the least-developed countries in Africa. Arriving in the capital, Banjul, she encountered a tumultuous mix of the sights, sounds and smells of poverty, and like the arms of an octopus around its prey, it grasped tightly. But soon, The Girls' Vocational Presentation School where she was based and the country itself would become very dear to her. After all, an octopus may have eight grasping arms, but it also has three hearts - Self-effacing and warmly confiding, Bryant's tale is an entertaining, uplifting story of travel and self-discovery.